Who [is] wise, and he shall understand these [things]? prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD [are] right, and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
Ver. 9. Who is wise and he shall understand these things] A pathetic perclose, whereby the prophet (orator-like) would leave a sting in the hearts of his hearers, and so seal up, and set on all that he had said before, conclusio gnomica, exclamatio emphatica.
Who is wise?] q.d. I could wish there were more; but I see there are not many. Store there are of fools, Stultorum plena aunt omnia, such dust-heaps there are in every corner to be found, not a few that either know not the will of God, or stumble at it. "But who hath known the mind of the Lord?" 1 Corinthians 2:16. "Who among you will give ear to this? Who hath believed our report? or to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who is the wise man, that may understand this?" Isaiah 42:23; Isa 53:1 Jeremiah 9:12. Lucerna accensa hominem quaerebat Aesopus. Jeremiah was bidden run to and fro to find a man that sought the truth, v. 1. Rari quippe boni (Juven. Sat. 13). Not many wise, wise, I mean, to salvation, 2 Timothy 3:15, that make sure work for their souls, and draw their wisdom from God's holy word, from the mine of the mystery of Christ, Psalms 119:98,99. All others are "foolish people, sottish children; they have no understanding," Jeremiah 4:22, be they never so shrewd and of deep reach for the world, be they never so wise in their generation. The fox is so in his; and the devil in his, for when he was but young he outwitted our first parents, 2 Corinthians 11:3, who yet were no babes, simple and weak in understanding, as the Socinians affirm them to have been or else they would not (say they) have so sinned. A fond conceit, and without footing in God's holy word, where we find that they were created in God's image, which consisteth in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, as saith the apostle, Ephesians 4:24 .
And he shall understand these things] "Which none of the princes of this world know," 1 Corinthians 2:8, because their learning hangs in their light; and, like moles, they dig dexterously under-ground, but are blind above-ground. Sapiens est cui res sapiunt prout sunt, saith Bernard. He is the wise man that savoureth things as they are. And herein lieth the whole wisdom of a man, saith Lactantius, ut Deum cognoscat, et colat, that he know and worship God aright, that with a practical judgment he ponder the words and ways of God, in order to salvation. This is that wisdom that dwelleth with prudence, Proverbs 8:12. Aristotle, in many places of his works, distinguisheth between wisdom and prudence. Wisdom he maketh to be a right apprehending of truths in general; prudence, an applying them to particular cases and uses. But Socrates said, that there was no such difference; since he that knoweth good things to do them, and evil things to avoid them, is to be held a wise man, and none else. They may seem here to be put for one and the same; since the wise man is said not to know, but to understand, judge, and ponder, and the prudent to know; teaching us, that God calls for a prudent wisdom, and a wise prudence, directing the soul to aa orderly carriage, and a holy care, that godliness (which is the only wisdom) may run through our whole lives, as the woof doth through the web.
For the ways of the Lord are right] Understand it not so much of the ways of predestination, providence, &c., wherein God walks towards us (which yet are all right and equal), as of those ways of his will, word, and worship, wherein he requireth us to walk towards him. These are called the way of God, Matthew 22:16, and the way of salvation, Acts 16:17, and the way of truth, 2 Peter 2:2, and the right way, 2 Peter 2:15, and the way of righteousness, 2 Peter 2:21. Right these ways are called, or straight. First, because they are conformed to the will of a righteous God, which is the mensura mensurans, the first rule of right, the standard, Non solum recta, sed et regula. Secondly, because the matter of it is holy, and just, and good, a doctrine of righteousness, that teacheth us to give God his due, and men theirs. It is also put for every purpose, Psa 19:7-8 Proverbs 30:5. Of the Book of Psalms, Athanasius hath observed, that they are so penned that every man may well think they speak de se, in re sun, of himself, and to his own particular necessities. Thirdly, because it rectifieth us, and transformeth us into the same image; it maketh such as deliver up themselves thereunto to walk as patterns of the rule, as a transcript of the word, that dwelleth richly in them, and worketh effectually, as a seed of immortality. Fourthly, because it carrieth us on in a straight line unto a right end without crooking or compassing about, Psalms 19:8; Psalms 25:4; Psalms 125:5. Has vias qui terit, non terit. Pray therefore as David did, Psalms 18:29, lest breaking out into byways (all which are highways to hell), or but stepping over the hedge, to avoid a piece of foul way, we brush and bruise ourselves to get in again, break our bones with David.
And the just shall walk in them] Such as are just with a double righteousness, imputed and imparted; that of justification, and this of sanctification: these will choose the way of truth, Psalms 119:39; Psalms 25:12, and be willing to walk honestly, Hebrews 13:18, orderly, and by rule, Galatians 5:25, accurately, and to the utmost, Ephesians 5:15, directly and distinctly, eyeing the mark, and propounding to themselves the highest pitch, and the best patterns (στοιχεινακριβως): often comparing themselves with the rule, laying their lives by the line, and reforming their outstrays, Psalms 119:59,60, making it the main of their endeavour, that all their deeds may be wrought in God, John 3:21. Lo, this is the just man's practice; and it is here propounded for a precedent.
But the transgressors shall fall therein] They perish from the way, Psalms 2:12; they stumble at the Word and fall into perdition, as the Chaldee here hath it; and so show themselves to be transgressors, traitors, rebels, yea, reprobates. See 1 Peter 2:8, they "stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed." Oh, fearful! "A bridge is made" (saith a reverend divine) "to give us a safe passage over a river, but he who stumbleth on the bridge is in danger to fall into the river. The Word is given us as a means to carry us over hell to heaven; but he who stumbleth and quarrelleth at this means shall fall in thither, from whence otherwise he had been delivered by it." Neither may we think the worse of the Word for this accidental effect of it upon transgressors; since the fault is merely in themselves: as when a lame man stumbleth in a plain path, the fault is not in the way, but in the foot. Blear eyes cannot abide the light; nor children endure honey when they have sore mouths. The same sun makes flowers smell sweet, but carrions stink loathsomely. Moses saved the Israelite, killed the Egyptian; and Abigail's voice pacified David, but made Nabal's heart died within him as a stone. Oecumenius telleth us that the fragrance of precious ointments is wholesome for doves, but kills the beetle, columbam vegetat, scarabaeum necat. And Aristotle affirmeth, that oil of roses is deadly to vultures, who hunt after only dead men's carcases. Christ himself, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, was set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign to be spoken against, Luke 2:34, for a butt mark, against whom his enemies should shoot the shaft of their gainsayings. To the Jews he became a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness, 1 Corinthians 1:23. Let them alone (saith he, concerning the Pharisees, who were offended at his sayings, Mat 15:14). Let them stumble and fall, and be broken, and snared, and taken, Isaiah 8:15. Christ in his ordinances is to reprobates a rock of offence, 2 Peter 2:8, but such a rock as that, Judges 6:21, out of which goeth fire and consumeth them. "For if any love not the Lord Jesus Christ, he is Anathema Maranatha," 1 Corinthians 16:22. "Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?" Jeremiah 8:9 .
“ Linea ducta mihi est, gratia, Christe, tibi. ”
“By the plumline it has been leading to me, oh Christ by grace to thee”